SAIPAN, Mariana Islands (September 29, 2000 - Marianas Variety/PINA Nius Online)---Citing the Northern Marianas' need to participate in the Digital Age, the Tenorio administration has expressed support for a bill authorizing the use of electronic records and signatures.

In testimony before the House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications, the administration provided central principles it deemed necessary to guide the development of House Bill 12-226, which was introduced by Rep. Williams S. Torres.

The Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands is joining the U.S. federal government, all 50 states and more than 20 countries that have either enacted or are currently considering legislation addressing issues raised by doing business on the Internet.

Bob Webb, the governor's special assistant for telecommunications, said it is time that Northern Marianas economic...

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (September 29, 2000 - The National/PINA Nius Online)---Copra growers in East New Britain have threatened to stop producing and selling copra until the Copra Marketing Board and the government come clear on the recent fall in prices.

The Small Growers Association is organizing a series of protest marches.

Copra Marketing Board regional manager Leslie Lalui declined to comment on the threats, apart from confirming that production was falling.

Small Growers President Henry Lote said because the politicians and the Copra Marketing Board had only been down playing their concerns over the years, their growers who represent a large percentage of the producers have decided to turn their backs on the crop.

They had been drumming up support from the Bitapaka, Kokopo/Vuna-mami and Toma/Vunadidir LLG’s, three of the biggest copra producing areas in the Gazelle Peninsula.

But the island must first clear the move with New Zealand, which is responsible for Niue’s defense and foreign affairs.

Premier Sani Lakatani has just returned from a visit to Beijing. He said recognition will help establish Niue as a more independent country.

"It’s an important step," Lakatani said, adding that he doesn’t think it will cause anything detrimental as long as New Zealand agreed on the way Niue handles its foreign affairs. He said "it’s about time" Niue receives "international status" recognition.

Lakatani said Niue will eventually open a diplomatic office in Beijing while China will set up an office in Alofi.

"China’s government and business people will work together to develop some of the things in Niue that we discussed," he said.

Terry Breese, the Director of the State Department’s Office of Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Island Affairs, headed the U.S. delegation, which included Compact negotiator Al Stayman, Interior and Defense officials.

Breese said the consultation was important for a number of reasons, including that it was the U.S.’s first face-to-face economic discussion with the new government. He said the two days of talks, mandated by the Compact, would help the U.S. to understand the RMI’s planning mechanism, which in turn will help the U.S. in its efforts to support greater self-sufficiency for the RMI.

The Marshalls public sector reform efforts are essential economic improvements he said, adding that he was particularly interested to hear more about the work of the Task Force on Accountability.

The new decree is similar to the Public Emergency Regulations, which came into force after Fiji's 1987 military coups and targeted people who disrupt the peace or sabotage the economy.

Attorney General Alipate Qetaki said it would be new legislation tailor-made for the protection of Fiji and its people.

"Cabinet decided on the new legislation on Tuesday and now we are looking at all policy issues," he said.

It is understood that the legislation will cover individuals and trade unions.

The interim administration - backed by the Great Council of Chiefs and Fiji Military Forces - is governing Fiji following the May 19 coup by indigenous Fijian gunmen, and the unrest, which followed. Deposed Prime Minister Mahendra...

NEW YORK, New York (Sept. 30, 2000 - UNDP/PINA Nius Online)---A journalist from French Polynesia, a mother from Malawi, a Nicaraguan psychologist, and a Polish priest - all of whom have been leading the fight against HIV/AIDS in their communities - will receive UNDP’s Fourth Annual Race Against Poverty Awards. It will come during a special ceremony at the United Nations.

The event, marking the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP) under the theme, "Breaking the Silence on HIV/AIDS," will take place on October 23 in the UN General Assembly Hall.

The award winners are Maire Bopp Dupont (French Polynesia), Catherine Phiri (Malawi), Rita Arauz Molina (Nicaragua), and Father Arkadiusz Nowak (Poland). Each was selected by UNDPÂ¹s IDEP Awardees Selection Committee following a global search for individuals who are making a difference in the fight against poverty and its underlying causes, specifically HIV/AIDS.

AVARUA, Cook Islands (September 23, 2000 – Cook Island News)---A police peacekeeping unit from Rarotonga will remain on Penrhyn until threats of violence have died down over a land dispute on the atoll’s motu Tokerau-te-Pahonu.

Protesters traveled to the motu where Cook Island News understands a pearl farming expatriate family of Lilian Matareka Grubnau of Penrhyn island lives.

Eight police officers, including Commissioner Greenfield Wichman, flew to Penrhyn on a chartered Air Raro flight following a faxed report to CINews of unrest, which the Island Council warned might develop into full-blown violence.

FREEHOLD

Tongareva Mayor Tini Ford, who signed the fax, told of the Island Council’s dissatisfaction with a High Court ruling in Rarotonga, which declared the disputed motu as ‘native freehold land.’

He said Tokerau-te-Pahonu is not surveyed land and therefore falls under the jurisdiction of the Island Council.

The French territory's waste management company, SEP, said the first consignments, totaling 268 tons of waste, were sent to Hong Kong and Djakarta (Indonesia), where they will be recycled to the Asian markets.

The waste has been carefully selected, sorted out and packaged for shipment in the past four months.

"This is a satisfying achievement. For a long time we have been trying to set up this new market," SEP General Manager Karl Meuel said.

Metal waste is being sent to Djakarta. Plastic and aluminum is going to Hong Kong.

But this trial shipment is so far not profitable. It cost SEP some 871,000 French Pacific Francs (about US$ 8,000) per ton to collect and send the waste to Asia.

"The market is definitely out there, but our waste quantities are limited. Also, we are far...

PORT VILA, Vanuatu (October 2, 2000 - Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat)---Vanuatu has cut almost in half the size of the delegation it planned to send to the Festival of Pacific Arts in New Caledonia later this month.

The move was made at the request of the Festival organizing committee in New Caledonia due to a shortage of housing.

The announcement comes in the wake of months of preparation for the Melanesian country’s artists and performers.

Ralph Vanu, director of Vanuatu’s Cultural Center, said the original delegation of 180 people represented all of the country’s provinces.

Despite having to cut some of the delegates, Vanu said the participants from Vanuatu will still be a diverse group.

"We have very traditional and modern groups," he said. "We tried to choose groups who haven’t gone out of the country before and who have done a wide range of activities."

Vanu said it was a difficult job having to choose who will go and who will stay...

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.